Saturday, December 3, 2016

Something really bothered me about my last post. The part where I said "Sometimes I hate homeschool." and it bothered me because I was honest.

That is just not okay. I am the CEO of my homeschool! If something is not right, then I need to change! So this, and the fact that I was intimidated in starting a new reading curriculum, had me just Let it GO this week.

We didn't do our schedule....at all.

Whoo Hoo!

BUT-- There's something that always really bugged me about Frozen. While we're celebrating with Elsa in letting it all hang out and be the ice queen she's meant to be, this is what's happening to her country:

That's right, they're freezing their patooties off and all the crops are probably dead, and no one had fuel ready, so there could very likely be DEATH AND CARNAGE!!!!

Yah, so maybe letting it go is not so glorious after all. Maybe it's just selfish.

But does that mean Elsa has to be miserable and sacrifice herself for her country?

In her happy ending, she learns how to restrain herself, and still be able to express herself. She became balanced because of her sister's love.

Soooo how does this apply to my homeschool?

Well, while we were "letting it go" it's not like my boys spontaneously learned....anything. Maybe how to use Netflix a bit better.

DEATH AND CARNAGE!!!!!
So this is the usual list of everything I FEEL like needs to happen in a day for me to be a SUCCESSFUL amazing homeschool mom:

*Reading Scriptures
*Devotional with:
-memorizing scripture
-family standard
-timeline memorization
-mormon channel video
-science fun video
*Make breakfast
*Maxwell Reads to me
*Hyrum/Daniel reads to me while other reads to Maxwell
*Meditation
*Three oldest write freelance.
*Review alphabet/counting/shapes etc with William
*Do intense one-on-one with Maxwell in math/english
*Do intense one-on-one with Hyrum in math/english
*Go on an outing with the family
*Do intense one-on-one with Daniel in math/english
*Do something incredible like science club, history activities etc
*Help the boys with things that they actually WANT to do like researching venom or photoshop
*Make the boys do their jobs
*Make dinner
*Do the laundry
*Read to the boys and put them to bed

And then I of course get frustrated with myself because the boy's bedroom is not clean, they are NOT wearing pajamas, and there is marker on the wall.

Do you know what I accomplished this week?

*math

But guess what? I actually feel like I NEED to do everything on that list! That if I don't it's like this:

I truly don't feel like my boys can learn things by osmosis. Maybe this is dyslexia, maybe I'm just mistaken, but I feel like if I don't make an effort, they're not going to get it. And they certainly didn't this week.

Well, actually, to be fair, Grandma's Canadian History has inspired Maxwell to make this Poster:

He was supposed to make a poster to advertise something fun for the Order of Good Cheer for the men of Samuel De Champlain to do.

Also, he read half of this book and I read the other half to him:

And he also listened to the entire audio book of Anne of Green Gables. Again.

This was all Grandma's doing: not mine.

AND to be fair to me, Tues was Dustin's Birthday, and we spent half the day out having fun as a family, Thurs. we spent most of the day at my sister's helping her with a project, Friday I had a heart palpitation which FREAKED me out, and I spent the day sleeping until we had a party for Dustin (again) and today (Saturday) we did do a little canoeing.

Yah, but we DID do math. So here is that:

Maxwell's math is getting pretty intense, he's learning pretty technical stuff, like how the ratio of a triangle is related to a rectangle that is inscribe inside it.

Daniel finally did his first test of the year (not sure why they have him do it so late) and he aced it.

My Other Schoolish Blogs

The Purpose of This Site

This site is meant for me. It is meant to help me keep a record of what my kids are learning and what I have taught. It's also to help me be accountable and not slack off. I know this is what I want to do, and I need to record our successes.

The "awkward and unprepared" Myth

There are many misconceptions and biases against homeschooling, and many people really think that I've never heard them or considered them. Many people worry about the "inevitable social awkwardness" of homeschoolers or that they are "unprepared for the world." In my experience, I've found that homeschoolers tend to be as socially "normal" or "awkward" as their parents. As far as "unprepared for the world" is concerned, that depends on how they are taught, but I have seen many successes first hand. Basically, I know the ins and outs of the decision I've made, and I'm not worried.

Why I Homeschool

When I was first married, I fell in love with the kids of the Leavitts and Schafers (my sisters-in-law families.) They were...and still are...confident, leaders, innocent where they should be innocent, creative, and accepting. They were also homeschooled. I wanted my future kids to be like them, and if homeschooling was part of that equation, then I was willing to make the sacrifice. Now, after years of study, prayer, and experience, I want to homeschool for many reasons. I want my kids to be family oriented not peer oriented. I want to include the gospel in every aspect of what they are taught. I want them to think out side of the box. I don't want them to be obsessed with what is "cool." I want them to feel loved by those around them. I want them to know who they are and what they stand for before they are bombarded by outside influences. I know that many families can do this without homeschooling, but it seems a lot harder to me. Basically, I'm a control freak. I want to be in control of my children's learning and social life....homeschooling makes that easier.

My Curriculum

For math, I do RightStart Mathematics, which is an abacus based math, Times Tales to memorize multiplication, and some extra basic add and subtract worksheets because I don't think Rightstart has enough for level "A."